A Tale of Two Maps

I’ll have much more on this later, but I stumbled across this map, and I thought it was too poignant to ignore:

This is a map of the 2010 unemployment rates across Europe, broken down by region, originally found here. I have filled in the unemployment rates of the former Yugoslav republics, Albania, and the former Soviet states with data drawn from here. As such, I don’t have those areas broken down by region.

Compare that map to this, my updated (edit: as of 9/18/2012) map of the average IQs of Europe…

While there are some incongruities, the overall pattern in striking. As we see, the higher the average IQ, the lower the unemployment rate, and hence the stronger the overall economy.

Particularly, it’s hard not to notice that the areas of the European periphery, that is Ireland, Portugal, Southern Spain, and Southern Italy, are prominent problem areas. Spain particularly appears to be doing badly, but the economy is clearly the worst in the south. Much of Southeastern Europe, which includes Greece, also fares poorly.

On the other hand, the Alpine region—Northern Italy, Southern Germany, Switzerland, and Austria seem to be doing pretty well. I haven’t bothered to look in detail, and hence it’s not reflected in my IQ map, but I understand that the PISA results show a distinct north-south cline in IQ in Germany, favoring the south. Apparently, this zone is one of exceptional average intelligence, which the legendary Swiss banking system probably attests to.

Another thing to add to pile of stuff that demonstrates the connection between biology and societal outcomes. It also doesn’t necessarily bode well for the future of the great experiment that is the European Union. As I said, more on this later.

8 Comments

the p.i.i.g.s. – they’re really doomed. something’s gotta give in spain soon. they’ve got ridiculously high unemployment rates. have that got any elections coming up? and have they got a “golden dawn” party of their own?

Italy did preatty well, especially the alpine regions (darker then the media of Germany, Sweden, UK and so on) and the median IQ in Italy was 102 (the highest in Europe with Germany and Netherland). So, i don’t think a crisis, this crisis, has nothing to do with the italian IQ. Germany, for example, was the sick man of europe for many years. So, what’s your point sir?

None has tested the IQ of the italian regions. Actually Richard Lynn used the Pisa Tests to predict the IQ of several Italian regions, although Pisa tests measure the quality of education and not the IQ.

But you are assuming cause and consequence, for instance in the Baltic region, why should lower IQs be the cause of worse economic development, there can be other causes, such as, an economical system, don´t forget those areas were communist not so long ago, also, it has been proven many times that a bad environment, for instance a bad economy can lower the IQ of a region, therefore, inverting this line of arguments…

for instance in the Baltic region, why should lower IQs be the cause of worse economic development, there can be other causes, such as, an economical system, don´t forget those areas were communist not so long ago

Yet, why are the other former communist nations doing better?

it has been proven many times that a bad environment, for instance a bad economy can lower the IQ of a region, therefore, inverting this line of arguments…

I don’t know about that. It’s all a matter of what you mean by “bad”. If you mean conditions in sub-Saharan Africa, then sure. If you mean in any European country, then it’s not so clear.

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